2023 locking up

[mgbbob]

HI folks,  I purchased a 2023 last summer.  I hadn't run it much and when I fired it up a few weeks the e-unit drum was bad.  I replaced the e-unit tonight and overall that went will.  I decided to clean and lube. 

I dropped the drive truck and flushed it out with brakekleen and relubed.  The unit ran well for about a minute then the motor locked up.  I pulled it apart and dug some more old grease out.   Every time I put it back together it would lock up.  I finally flushed the whole thing with WD40.  Back to running good. 

Did I miss something.  I could find no reason for the lock up.  I probaby need to pull it back apart for some lube on the gears but it is running like brand new right now.

Bob

[MRTerry]

Bob,

I had this same problem about a year ago - I lubed the motor on an Alco and then it started locking up. On my Alco, the cause turned out to be that the brushes had worn at an angle. When I put the motor back together, I didn't put them back in exactly the same position, and the sharp edge of one of the brushes was catching on the edge of one of the armature plates and locking the motor. The short-term solution was to rotate the brushes back into their old positions, and the long-term solution was a set of new brushes.

Hope this works for you.

Thanks for reading CTT,

Terry

[mgbbob]

I did have the top loose on the motor.  I bet you are right.  I didn't check but decided I should probably order new brushes.  It is running great right now and the new e-unit is smooth and quiet.

I have a e-unit to put in a 1666 next.  I should start to get good at it pretty soon.

Thanks,

Bob